Now that it's a given that we have two parties that are pretty much only divided by social issues and the third parties are either
* well-funded, 1%er-friendly Republicans who own bongs (Libertarians) or
* a group that has approximately zero financial backing, zero media support, almost zero governmental representation and, unfortunately, very little support among mainstream America (progressives),

. . . what exactly do we DO?

A. Where would we head?

Washington, where nearly everyone is purchased, or sit-ins at corporate offices, which are in various locations across the country? And what would Washington do? This problem is a long-standing and complex one largely caused by two elements: Big (name industry here) and their lobbyists and 32 straight years of Friedmanomics practiced by Repubs in both parties. It affects nearly everything from elections to environmental policy to public policy.

Our still-Republican-controlled Congress and over-filibustering Senate leaves us kind of helpless in this matter. Other than a small handful of Sherrod Browns and Elizabeth Warrens and Bernie Sanders, our government has proven they're really not interested in taking corporations and their leaders to task and many are willing to make life even easier for them, hard as that is to fathom. I'm finding more and more each election cycle that, economically, there is NO OPTION.

B. Who'll broadcast it without casting a smarmy, sneering eye?

News anchors are, by and large, one-percenters hired by the one-percent of the one percenters, and we have arguably the most conservative, corporate-controlled media among industrialized nations. Exhibit A: Erin Burnett and half of her CNN co-horts. Exhibits B and C: nearly every anchor on Faux and CNBC. Exhibit D: Morning Joke.

Like it or not, Cable News, Inc. is still influential. In the age of the internet, cable news and its opinionated anchors should be fossilized. Yet people still watch it. Yet it's ubiquitous . . . how many times do you see Rupert Murdoch's garbage channel on in dentist's & doctor's offices, hospital waiting rooms, bars, restaurants, auto repair places, etc?

C. Who'd be able to participate in a protest for even one day, let alone several?

I think the greatest reason why Americans don't/can't protest is also one of the greatest reasons for it's vast inequality: No Universal Health Care. You cannot risk losing your job primarily because there are so few good jobs to be had and losing insurance means having to buy it on your own; ask anyone who does, any small business owner how costly that is. On the other hand, if we HAD Universal Health Care, it'd be an employEEs market and corporations know this. How many people can't start their own businesses due to health insurance costs? How badly are wages being suppressed because of health insurance costs?

D. Who'd listen?

I'm willing to bet nearly half of America clings to this Horatio Alger myth and this "American Dream" crap; both of which have largely been lost thanks to corporatization, free trade and suppressed real-dollar wages. But, thanks to reason "B" above, they're still hypnotized into believing it even though it's painfully evident that economic mobility in America is worse than any time in the modern era. They're still in absolutist "It's either THIS or SOSHULISM" mode, not even accepting that there could be a happy medium.

I would love, LOVE to participate in a march on the important issue of worker rights and think it's far overdue; I'm just wondering, with all of the venom directed towards the Occupy movement (even among supposed Democrats), how effective it would be and how it would happen.

Warren Buffett aside, have you ever known a billionaire NOT compelled to say something completely douchebaggish and straight off of a Fox News cue card when put in front of a camera?

Like, do any of them say -

"All I can tell you is try, give it your best shot, don't be afraid to ask for help and help your fellow human being when he or she has fallen on hard times. After all, everyone who is where I'm at asked for help along the way."

as opposed to -

"I'M THE GREATEST, SMARTEST AND HARDEST WORKING FUCKER ON THIS PLANET AND GOT THIS SHIT COMPLETELY ON MY OWN WITH NO HELP FROM ANYONE! OH AND I'M LAYING OFF 20,000 OF YOU USELESS COMMIE EATERS SO YOU CAN PLAY SOCIALISM WITH YOUR MARXIST PRESIDENT AND I'M GOING TO BUY THE NEXT ELECTION BECAUSE I CAN!!!"

These guys make more money per week than most people will see in their entire lives.

What's in it for them to be SUCH [font size="4"]DICKS[/font]?? It's almost as if they're smugly mocking us and they just don't care that they are.

I have always been a big proponent of following your heart and doing exactly what you want to do. It sounds so simple, right? But there are people who spend years—decades, even—trying to find a true sense of purpose for themselves. My advice? Just find the thing you enjoy doing more than anything else, your one true passion, and do it for the rest of your life on nights and weekends when you’re exhausted and cranky and just want to go to bed.

snip

Say, for example, that your passion is painting. Well, what are you waiting for? Get out there and buy a canvas and some painting supplies! Go sign up for art classes! And when you get so overwhelmed with your job and your personal life that you barely have enough time to see your girlfriend or boyfriend or husband or wife, let alone do anything else, go ahead and skip classes for a few weeks. Then let those paint brushes sit in your room untouched for six months because a major work project came up and you had a bunch of weddings to go to and your kid got sick and money is tighter than you thought it would be and you have to work overtime. And then finally pick those brushes back up again only to realize you’re so rusty that you begin to question whether this was all a giant waste of time, whether you even want to paint anymore, and whether this was just some sort of immature little fantasy you had as a kid and that maybe it’s finally time to grow the fuck up, let painting go, and join the real world because, let’s face it, not everyone gets to live out their dreams.

Not only does that sound fulfilling, but it also sounds pretty fun.

Really, the biggest obstacle to overcome here—aside from every single obligation you have to your friends, family, job, and financial future—is you. And I’ll tell you this much: You don’t want to wake up in 10 years and think to yourself, “What if I had just gone after my dreams during those brief 30-minute lunch breaks when I was younger?” Because even if it doesn’t work out, don’t you owe it to yourself to look in the mirror and confidently say, “You know what, I gave it my best half-hearted shot”?

I really cannot laugh at this because it just hits too close to home. "Do What You Love and The Money Will Follow" is the biggest crock of horseshit ever sold to people.

LONDON -- London's famed Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) has canceled an experimental concert by extreme metal band Napalm Death, fearing the noise level could damage the 104-year-old building.

Ceramic artist Keith Harrison from the V&A, the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design, collaborated with Napalm Death on a set to be played through a sculptural sound system which would disintegrate under decibel stress.

But museum officials said the one-off performance, scheduled for Friday in the V&A's Europe Galleries, had been canceled out of concern it was not only the intended sculpture that would be damaged.

"A further safety inspection has revealed concerns that the high level of decibels generated by the concert would damage the historic fabric of the building," a museum statement said.

Or at least that's what my co-worker, who I thought at one point was semi-rational but now just appears to be driving off the nutjob cliff, thinks. Oh, and that we need more Bob Woodwards in the world.

Take a look at that statement. It's got to be the dumbest thing I've read all day. Possibly all year. Possibly all decade. You couldn't Google such whackjobbery with any tangible results.

What level of paranoia would lead a degreed individual to write something that would come across as too whacked for even the Glenn Beck set?

How would someone even work that out?

I think, and the Romney interview just capped it . . . this is why his party is going straight in the crapper: the lunatics are running the asylum and the rational ones are abandoning it entirely.